The San Pedro Sun

Wolfe’s Woofer: We Are Professionals“Can you give me a ride to the airport?” Charlie asked. “I’m meeting Russell when he comes in.”
“Sure,” I said. “He’s finally making it back to the island? It’s about time.”
“Charles was going to take me to meet him but he’s tied up with something. Mark had to go to Belize City so I’ve got no way of getting to the airport except taxi.”
“Let’s go,” I said. “I’m looking forward to seeing Russell.”
When Russell arrived he wasn’t his usual smiling self.
“What’s wrong with you?” Charlie asked.
“I brought a brand new guitar with me and I’m worried about it.”
“What’s the worry?” I asked.

Letter to the Editor: Paul MartinDear Editor:
I just finished a week stay in San Pedro at the Paradise Villas. I enjoyed the trip however a couple of things really bothered me. I did several snorkeling trips including to the Blue Hole. People were allowed to smoke on the boat operated by Aqua Scuba, and little was done to stop people from throwing cigarette butts out into the water. Fish die from cigarette butts. Someone from that area needs to stop this kind of activity. No smoking signs should be put up and no discarding of butts into the water should be allowed.
I also visited the park and walked around many of the places in town. It is becoming deplorable. The downtown park is run down. All the buildings need painting. I tried contacting the administration of San Pedro, but that apparently is not possible. Someone needs to get in touch with them and tell them to start spending some money on keeping the area a good place to visit. You will encourage tourism that way in having a vibrant area for people to visit.

Unidentified body confirmed as missing Honduran Silvia BenitezPolice in San Pedro Town are investigating the circumstances leading to the death of a missing Honduran. She has been identified as 22 year old Silvia Benitez, a waitress of the San Pedrito Area.
Benitez, a single mother of three, was discovered about 15 feet off the Grand Belizean Estate road 3 ½ miles north of San Pedro Town on Saturday morning, January 17th. She was in an advanced state of decomposition, and as such doctors performed the postmortem onsite.

Doctor LoveDear Doctor Love,
My husband and I were divorced two years ago. He was a cheater, an abuser and a manipulator who was very good at hiding his private life from those around him. The only people who know the details of the divorce from me were my close friends and family. All of my friends have been very supportive but many of them are curious about what caused the split in my marriage. My ex moved away so they can’t ask him about it. Even though they have been nice to me some of them are always questioning to find out what went wrong. These people also make a lot of assumptions and try to give me advice to get over the relationship because I have not started dating. I have avoided their questions because I feel it is no one’s business but mine. The truth is that I am long over the relationship and I am simply relieved that it’s over.

Misc Belizean Sources

Missing Honduran Woman Found DeadCarolina Sylvia Benitez, a Honduran national living in San Pedro. She was last seen drunk on 12.01.15 at around 4:00 a.m. sitting on a bench with an alcoholic beverage in her hand. She was in the company of four male persons and that was the last time that she was seen alive.
According to the San Pedro Sun she was " a stripper/waiter of the San Pedrito Area." And the body was found near the Grand Belizean Estate road 3 ½ miles north of San Pedro Town on Saturday morning. A postmortem examination was conducted on site and she had mutiple injuries caused by blunt force.
Benitez is a mother of three. She was reported missing by
36-year-old Danilo Alvarenga, one of her friends.

Reef Week 2015Enter Oceana Belize's Instagram competition to win cool prizes! Special thanks to Tropic Air and Belizean Nirvana for the Placencia prize package and our anonymous donor for the GoPro! Good luck and we're excited to see the photos you use to describe your love affair with Belize's incredible marine resources!

The Reporter

Man killed in traffic accidentPolice need the public’s assistance to identify the body of a man who was killed in a traffic accident sometime after 11 p.m. on Saturday night between miles 81 and 82 on the Phillip Goldson Highway in Ranchito Village.
Police say the man’s gold Nissan Altima car bearing license plates, CZL-C-04613, was found overturned in a drain on the right hand side off the road, when travelling in a northerly direction.
The car, according to police, was traveling northwards and experienced a tire blow-out, then lost control of the vehicle, slammed into a culvert and flipped several times.
The driver suffered a large gash in the back of his head and other injuries to his body and died within an hour at the Corozal Community Hospital.

Ministry of Education CEO: ‘The ministry is improving employability for TVET studentsBy aligning the curriculum for technical and vocational students the Ministry of Education is improving the employability of Belizean students in the Caribbean, says the ministry’s Chief Executive Officer, David Leacock.
Speaking at the close of the two-week curriculum alignment workshop funded by the banana accompanying measures BAM project of the European Union, Leacock explained that the exercise is a step towards the Ministry being able to offer Caribbean vocational qualification CVQ certifications.
“The CVQ is regionally recognized so our students will be able to be employed wherever they go in the Caribbean, ” Leacock said, “so it’s a matter of getting the systems in place to back able to offer the qualification. ”
Leacock added that the alignment and the other undertakings to offer the CVQs are a part of the education sector reform strategy which aims at improving quality and the relevance of education provided in Belize.

Missing woman found murdered in San PedroPolice have discovered the badly mutilated body of a young woman who was reported missing this past Thursday.
On Saturday afternoon San Pedro police responded to an alert in the Grand Belize Estate area about 3 1/2 miles north of the town and found the partially nude and decomposed body of Silvia Carmen Benites, 22, a Honduran who lived in the San Pedrito area on the island.
The body, according to police, was discovered ‘on the right hand side of the road in a pond of mud and water’.
Police say that on Saturday morning before midday two passersby smelled a stench coming from the area and saw the corpse, which had bruises to the face, neck and back.
A post mortem confirmed that Benites suffered severe ibternal injuries where the bruises were. She also suffered ‘restraining-type injuries to the shoulders and inner thigh’. The autopsy, however, could not determine the cause of death.

Mexico arrests gang member for students’ murdersPolice in Mexico have arrested a member of a criminal gang accused of killing 43 students in Iguala in September.
Felipe Rodriguez ordered Guerreros Unidos gang members to burn the bodies and clothing of the victims to hide evidence, prosecutors say.
They say the students were detained by police after a protest and handed over to the gang.
The students’ disappearance sparked weeks of protests across Mexico against corruption and violence.
Felipe Rodriguez – known as “El Cepillo” or “The Brush” – was arrested on Thursday night in the city of Jiutepec, some 90km (55 miles) south of Mexico City.
Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam identified him in November as the gang member who ordered the bodies and clothes of the victims to be burned in a nearby rubbish dump and thrown into a local stream.
“His intent was to destroy all evidence of the murders,” said Mr Murillo Karam.

KHMH CEO says he will not defend wrong in negligenceThe Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital Authority is scheduled to meet with Lucia Martinez on Monday following allegations of the hospital leaving cotton swabs insider her body after delivering a baby.
Chief Executive Officer of the hospital, Dr. Adrian Coye, said this week that he has received the final report on the hospital’s investigation, and is holding the meeting to discuss the findings with Martinez and give her the opportunity to vent all her concerns.
“The question of a retained swab is a very serious incident, and we won’t take this matter lightly,” Coye said, “if we’re liable, we’re liable and I will not defend things that are wrong.”
He added that after assessing how the incident may have taken place, corrective measures have been put in place to safeguard against future incidents. However, he would have preferred if Martinez had brought her complaint to the KHMH before going to the media.

American delegation arrives in CubaAn American Congressional delegation has arrived in Havana in the first such visit since the United States and Cuba agreed to restore ties severed in 1961.
The Democrat politicians plan to meet Cuban officials and civilian leaders to discuss practical measures required for the normalisation of relations.
The thaw in relations was announced on 17 December by President Barack Obama and his Cuban counterpart, Raul Castro.
Earlier this week, Cuba completed the release of 53 political prisoners. The measure was agreed as part of the agreement.
“We have all been to Cuba before, and we strongly support the president’s new direction for our policy towards Cuba,” said Senator Patrick Leahy.

Patrick Jones

Fatal traffic mishap on the Phillip Goldson Highway in CorozalA traffic accident on the Phillip Goldson Highway late on Saturday night has claimed the life of one person.
The victim has been identified as Eric Vellos.
Police say Vellos was northbound in a Nissan Altima car around 11:50 pm on Saturday when it suffered a tire blowout.
Vellos is reported to have then lost control of the car which crashed into a culvert and flipped several times.
Police say Vellos was thrown from the overturning vehicle and sustained fatal injuries, including an open wound to the back of the head.

Body of woman reported missing found in San PedroTwo days after police reported her missing, the body of 22 year old Silvia Carmen Benites was found in an area north of San Pedro town on Saturday afternoon.
According to authorities, passersby in the area three and a half miles north of San Pedro town found the nude body of the young mother, of Honduran nationality in a muddy pond at the side of the road.
Police say that a post mortem examination revealed that Benites’ body has multiple blunt force injuries to the right side of the face, the neck and the back.
They autopsy also found restraining type injuries to the shoulders and inner thigh.

Operationalizing Sustainability for SolutionsIs the thinking associated with the suggestion that concepts of sustainability can guide our daily lives accurate and on mark, or just another wave in the sea of change associated with trying to solve our long-term global problems that is popular to surf at the moment? Everyone is now talking about sustainable development. But how do we move beyond the rhetoric of sustainability while also establishing or maintaining a “big picture” approach to problem-solving? To stimulate your thinking view the 90 second video “What is Our Legacy.”
Trying to operationalize the concept of sustainable development often is met with confusion and complexity around what the idea promotes. An approach to understanding and thinking in a sustainability context needs to move into the mainstream with regards to how integrative thinking can break down the notion of silos on the landscape, generate new solutions, and promote greater ownership of the challenges. This shift in perspective can be the difference between a system in which you add a device to lessen the pollution emission at the end of a pipe to one in which you eliminate the need for the pollution abatement device altogether.

Belize Can Make You Crazy? Perhaps. The New John McAfee Retreat & Amazon’s New Series: “Mad Dogs”A New McAfee Themed Resort on Ambergris Caye
You don’t need to read much about John McAfee to liken him to Colonel Kurtz. Comes down to Belize, greases a few palms, tries to start all sorts of businesses, make friends and/or enemies with the police, builds a laboratory in the jungle, maybe manufacturers a few hallucinogenic bath salts and goes a bit nuts. And then quite possibly has a neighbor murdered.
He makes the comparison SO much easier with some of the ridiculous gun toting, shirtless photos that he posed for. See below – Cuckoo for coconuts.
Anyway…a new resort/villa is just opening on a property that McAfee owned on North Ambergris Caye. Right next door to the home where he lived…
Just south…it was an empty lot when McAfee purchased it – along with the main house. And then he built a few palapas. After JM was wanted for questioning in relation to a murder, hid out in a flurry of drama and paranoia in Belize…

The Advantages of Retiring in Northern BelizeIf you are thinking about relocating and investing in a new home in Belize, then it is a must to look at the advantages of living in northern Belize.
A great place to retire and get off the beaten path, Northern Belize offers a diversity of nature, history and culture than any other district in Belize. In fact, when you take a close look at the benefits that the region provides, you may decide that this is the ideal place to call home.
The Climate
Throughout all of Belize, you can enjoy pleasant tropical climate. Sitting very close to the equator and along the coast, you can expect mild to warm temperatures throughout the year. However, the climate in the northern region of the country is somewhat unique in that it has lower average rainfall per year than the coastal areas. This means more days of radiant sunshine and beautiful blue skies than you will have if you invest in a home in the southern region of Belize. In addition, the geographic features and the proximity of the area to the coast make the northern region more protected from tropical storms and hurricanes.

Meeting with Myself (aka - That hooker may stab me yet)So I'm drinking a Carla's Sweet Nipples when Raven walks down the bar, passing plenty of vacant stools, opting to take his place beside me. A true 'salty dog' sailor if I've ever met one. Shoulder length gray hair, a beard far more full and masculine than I can grow...also grayed by the years. He had about 40 years on me; most spent sailing around the Mediterranean - a few pretty crazy adventures I enjoyed hearing about - with his most recent years being spent in the mountains of Mexico. He had spent his life jumping from adventure to adventure; and had no doubt achieved short term happiness in bunches. You could see it on his face as he talked.
It was very nice cruising around and watching the sunset on Eric's birthday. Good Times for sure. If you haven't experienced a Sunset cruise with us...WTF? Realy?! Call me...maybe. Is that still a thing? Still don't understand it - getting old.

International Sources

Belize first as Cayman returns to international competitionThe Cayman Islands will play Belize in the first leg of the 2018 World Cup qualifying football games in a couple of months’ time.
Cayman has not played internationally at senior level since 2011 and dropped to 205 in the FIFA world rankings, its lowest position ever. Only Djibouti, Cook Islands, Anguilla and Bhutan are lower in the FIFA rankings.
Cayman Islands Football Association’s technical director Renard Moxam said it is not impossible for Cayman to one day make it to the World Cup finals, but there will be some serious obstacles to overcome.
He said, “For this particular World Cup campaign, which will eventually get you to Russia 2018, we have many hurdles to go over and many hurdles to pass and some huge ones too.”

The Incredible Story Of How This Man Saved A Baby Manatee Will Melt Your HeartA baby manatee is recovering nicely after being rescued by a young volunteer last year.
Mitchell Thomas, 19, found the too-cute-for-words mammal while volunteering for Wildtracks Manatee and Primate Rehabilitation in Belize.
“This little man was found in the waters of Belize struggling to stay at the surface after his mother was presumably killed by a boat,” Thomas wrote on Imgur. “An adult manatee was found dead nearby.”
Since Thomas was the one responsible for saving the little guy, the conservation and research non-profit named the manatee Mitchell.
Mitch the manatee was taken to the rehabilitation center on June 30, where he was wrapped in a wet t-shirt and doused with water to keep his skin from drying out.